Scholarship Student Update June 2009 - International School Moshi

International School MoshiISM Scholarship students 2009 and 2010: Ines, Abraham, Suzan, Vivian and Desmond.ScholarshipStudentUpdateJune, 2009Inspiring individuals to be lifelong learners in a global community

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT GRADUATESMhula Ngassa heads to UBCMhula Ngassa was awarded the “International Leaders of TomorrowAward” at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver,Canada. He will join fellow ISM scholarship studentsDaniel Mundeva, (’08), who won the same full four-yearscholarship last year, and Leonard John, (’06), who got theaward in 2007.“Amazing,” is how Mhula, 22, describes this turn of eventsafter the disappointment of not getting a scholarship in 2008.“When I got that scholarship I thought, maybe that wasmeant to be like that last year, when I didn’t get it. Maybe Iwas meant to go to the same school as my friend, the shortfellow, Daniel.”The “International Leaders of Tomorrow Award” is given tothe person who shows leadership skills in their community.For Mhula, at ISM, that included being the student representativeto the board of directors and a member of the studentboarding council. Back home he volunteered as a teacher at asecondary school. At UBC, Mhula will study applied sciencewith his sights on chemical engineering. Last summer heworked for Barrack as a student mining engineer, learninghow mining, chemical and mechanical engineers each applytheir skills in the field.J U N E , 2 0 0 9“When I got thatscholarship Ithought, maybe itwas meant to belike that last year.… Maybe I wasmeant to go to thesame school as myfriend, the shortfellow, Daniel.”

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT GRADUATES 2009Ines Muganyizi off to Connecticut“Being at ISMhas preparedme a lot (both)living withstudents fromdifferentcountries andthe difficultcurriculum.”“I’m not nervous,” says Ines about heading to the United Statesto attend Connecticut College, the liberal arts school that acceptedher on scholarship. “I’m excited.”“I was hoping, but I didn’t know, that I would get a scholarshipoffer that early.” says Ines, who thought she would wait months,maybe even years for the opportunity. That she was able tochoose between two — Connecticut College and Trent Universityin Canada — is not lost on her. “I had such luck,” she says.“I worked hard and I got it on time.”Ines feels boarding life and the rigorous IB Diploma Programme,have prepared her for college. She wants to study environmentalstudies — the college has an award-winning programme in thisfield — and international relations. “Being at ISM has preparedme a lot — living with students from different countries and thedifficult curriculum — I can interact with people from differentcultures. That is what I am going to face over there.”What will she miss most when she leaves ISM? “Interaction inthe dorms. People are always there to make you enjoy the boardinglife, despite the IB stresses and all those essays.”Ines plans to work this summer in Dar es Salaam before sheheads to college in the fall.S C H O L A R S H I P S T U D E N T U P D A T E

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT GRADUATES 2009Desmond Mushi, a Bates man“I was really excited when I got my first reply,” says DesmondMushi of his first acceptance letter from a university. “It meant Iwas capable of being an undergrad.”In the end, he accepted a four-year scholarship to Bates Collegein Maine. “I really liked that it is smaller – 1,700 students – andone of the best liberal arts colleges,” says Desmond, who creditshis extra curricular activities with giving him the edge on his applicationto Bates. His work outside the classroom has been impressive.He has coached football and organized a tournament,worked on hard labour projects at Kidachini and Mwereni, andplayed games with the orphans at Light in Africa. Desmond spentlast summer teaching at a school in Butiama and plans to dosomething similar in a different community before he heads touniversity at the end of August. He’s been considering studyingmedicine or politics, but is no longer certain what career he willchoose. “ I just want to help. It doesn’t have to be big. I’d behappy if I can work with kids and give them the desire to helpothers. I want to help improve their education.”“My father did not go to school, but he sees that if you put somuch effort into something, you can succeed.“He is happy I made it myself.”J U N E , 2 0 0 9“I was reallyexcited whenI got my firstreply... Itmeant I wascapable ofbeing anundergrad.”

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT GRADUATES 2009Suzan Efata takes on Trent U“I got to learnso manythings…IB hasprepared meforuniversitystudies.”Suzan spent much of this year writing essays for university applications.“Too many. Twenty three!” says the 19-year-oldfrom Moshi. But with each paper she wrote, she was able torefine the process and improve her essay writing skills to greatsuccess! She landed a scholarship to Trent University in Ontario,Canada, where she will study bio-chemistry. She wants tobecome a pediatrician.Suzan is quite nervous about her move to North America. “I’venever been away from home for such a long time and I don’tknow what it looks like there.” But she figures being at ISM andhaving lived with people from different backgrounds is an edge.“I got to learn so many things.”The strangest experiences at ISM this year were Spirit Day,when her D2 classmates dressed like hippies, and watching KeironWhite and the other teachers perform a version of MamaMia! at variety night. “I found the silly behaviour of the teachersstrange.”But she figures such antics over the past two years have preparedher for campus life in Canada and the “IB has preparedme for university studies.”S C H O L A R S H I P S T U D E N T U P D A T E

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS CLASS OF 2010Abraham Ng’hwaniVivian NgowiThe first year of IB has been a tough transitionyear for Abraham, but the 19-year-old has risen tothe challenge.“IB is turning me into an academic person,” hesays. “Even though it is harder, I actually enjoyschool more than before.”The biggest difference is the mix of academicwork with the rest of it – sports, community service,music. “I enjoy doing it all. Before it didn’texist in my mind as school work. The IB systemjust makes me fall into the rest of it.”Abraham also participated in the Model UnitedNations and coached football to groups of localstudents. He wants to study medicine in the future.But first Abraham will return to Shinyanga thissummer where he will work in the communityshamba. He plans to incorporate that work intoresearch for his extended essay.Vivian Ngowi has come up with a solution to thebiggest challenge she faced adjusting to IB studiesand enjoying all the extra curricular activities ISMhas to offer.“I found a way to organize myself so I have timefor everything and so I don’t have a nervous breakdown,says the 18-year-old who just completed D1.“I keep a diary of everything.”Otherwise Vivian says she would have spent all ofher time cracking the books. “Thanks to CAS, Idon’t just study. It makes me make time for otheractivities and explore my talents.”This year this included joining a D1 band, pianolessons and getting involved in theatre productions.Vivian will spend the summer working on her extendedessay in economics. She is interested in marketingstructures, advertising and branding.J U N E , 2 0 0 9

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT GRADUATESDaniel Mundeva ’08UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIADaniel was overwhelmed by the size — 40,000students — and the collective brain capacity atUBC but quickly found his place. He threw himselfinto leadership roles participating in UBC’s biggestStudent Leadership Conference as both a facilitatorand a participant. His presentation was titled,“Africa from an African Perspective: Simple Mindson Complex Matters.” Daniel connected with the“authentic” Vancouver community playing socceroff-campus as well as through the Church and participatedin a University Christian Ministry weekendretreat at Hope. “I had the side advantage oftaking on the closest, highest, snow covered hill,not as challenging as Kili, but tough enough.”Daniel will be home in Kahama this summer torefuel with the African spirit and to work out newcommunity services.Catherine Kayila ’06COTTEY COLLEGE, MONTANA, USACatherine completed her first year at the all-girlscollege, with a GPA of 4. This put her on the Presidents’List as one of the school’s top 10 students andwas one of 4 awards she won this year includinghighest cumulative grade point average. Catherine isat Cottey on a scholarship that covers 80 per cent ofher education. The other 20 per cent is funded byprivate sponsors.At first she was homesick, but the college’s familylikeatmosphere made it easy to settle in. Catherine,who comes from Shinyanga, is president of the InternationalFriendship Circle and treasurer of the StudentGovernment Association among other clubs.She spent spring break in St. Louis, where she wentto the top of the St. Louis Gateway Arch and theZoo! “It was so much fun to see the lions, zebras andgiraffes from Africa.” She will volunteer at awomen’s shelter over the summer.S C H O L A R S H I P S T U D E N T U P D A T E

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT GRADUATESLeonard John ’06UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIALeonard John just completed his second year atUBC. The 24-year-old who is originally fromDodoma, is the first of three ISM students to receivethe International Leader of TomorrowAward at U B.C. where he got a full scholarshipto study Computer Science. He is the Sports representativefor the Computer Science StudentsSociety (CSSS) where he organizes social andsport events within the department. He is alsovolunteering his time teaching Kiswahili. Leonardwill work part-time this summer while he continuesto take summer courses. Come September heplans to study “vigorously to fulfill the requirementsfor my bachelor degree.”Nicholaus Mollel ’06AMHERST COLLEGE, MASSACHUSETTSNicholaus Mollel is studying computer science atAmherst College in Massachusetts where he justcompleted his second year. He ended this semesterdoing research on Africa-related projects. For hisforeign policy class, he looked at U.S. foreign policiesin Angola. And in his film and media course helooked at Kenyan and Tanzanian political cartoonistsand censorship in the age of internet. The workwas presented in a blog:http://internetafrica.wordpress.com/This summer, Nicholaus, who is from Arusha, isworking on preliminary research for his thesis projectin computer science. “The work is going to beon artificial neural networks and computer virtualmemory.” He plans to spend a month and a fewweeks at Dartmouth College working in its IT departmentas a computer security intern.J U N E , 2 0 0 9

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT GRADUATESStephen Lwendo ’06HARVARD UNIVERSITYStephen, who is from Arusha, just completed histhird year at Harvard University where he isstudying engineering. Over spring break he carriedthe Tanzanian flag at the Education WithoutBorders Conference in Dubai. This summer hewill be in Namibia where he will deploy MicrobialFuel Cells for Project Lebone, which hebrought to Tanzania last summer. Stephen willalso work with the One Laptop Per Child Projectin Namibia and will attend a workshop about thatproject in Rwanda. Then it’s back to Cambridgeto work on a research project and his senior designproject.Marceline Finda ’05WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITYMarceline will enter her final year at WesternWashington University in Bellingham this fall,where she is majoring in Biochemistry (BS) andAnthropology/Biology (BA). This year sheworked at the university’s tutoring center whereshe was a math and chemistry tutor. “The most funI’ve had this past year was Boni’s visit for theThanksgiving weekend. I hadn’t seen him for almostfour years. It was the closest to home that Ihad gotten for the almost three years that I havebeen here. Marceline will be back in Tanzania thissummer. “I really can’t wait; it’s been the longesttime I have ever been away from home.” She willmeet her new extended family, reconnect with hermother and brothers and friends and work atKCCO. “So I’m really looking forward to beinghome again.S C H O L A R S H I P S T U D E N T U P D A T E

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT GRADUATESBoniventura Mwapule ’04DUKE UNIVERSITYBoniventura Mwapule graduated from Duke University,N.C., on May 10, 2009 with a B.Sc. in Economicsand a B.A. in French Studies! “I am happynow after having gone through all this, it’s been avery tough time for me. It has been bizarre too becauseI felt like university life was too challengingfor me compared to all my previous schooling,something I wasn’t expecting.” Boniventura, who isfrom Tanga, hopes to work as a language instructorin the U.S. for the next year and then start a Mastersprogram in 2010. After that he plans to return toTanzania to work.We need your supportEast Africa needs capable, honest and committed leaders.Please help us support the Tanzanian students who show suchleadership promise gain the knowledge, skills and perspectivesneeded to lead Tanzania into a bright future.To make a tax-efficient donation online please visit:www.ismoshi.org/scholar.htmFor more information on the ISM Scholarship Programme or to receive acomplimentary DVD, please email the ISMDevelopment Office at development@ismoshi.netThe ISM UK Charitable Trust, Charity No. 1115221The ISM 501(c)3 Foundation #11-3792811J U N E , 2 0 0 9

GIVE THE GIFT OF A GREAT EDUCATION• ISM is committed to investing in the future of Tanzaniathrough on-going Community Service projects and ourScholarship Programme.• A donation to our Scholarship Programme can open thedoors to a university education for bright Tanzanian studentswho do not have the financial means to obtain ahigher education.• To succeed we need your help. Financial donations ofany amount are welcome.• To donate visit www.ismoshi.org/scholar.htm andclick on the donate now button. Or contact the ISM DevelopmentOffice at development@ismoshi.net• Commit to a monthly contribution of $15 or more for ayear and we will send you a commemorative ISM shukato show our appreciation.THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS DONORS:.• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines• Team ISM Kilimanjaro Marathon 2009 participants.• Gaspard and Aline Knops dynamic bread making duo.• Carsten Klouman• Bjorn Johnson• Ante Guenther• Gwenda Stewart• And everyone who has donated their time, knowledge,good will and financial generosity to this cause.ISM SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMEEducating Tanzania’s Future LeadersDonate at www.ismoshi.org/scholar.htm